Flashlight junkies help!!

zoe17

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 22, 2006
Messages
19
A lumens/ who has the brightest light at work contest has been started. First my E2D was king, then the Romisen RC-C3, then the MG-PLI 2 123A from shining beam, I have been beaten. The PLI was not as bright as I thought it would be.

SO, for under $50.00 bucks, what can I buy or solder together to make a eye searing light, can be 2-123 or 18650. I have tons of different Ultrafires,Surefires,Stingers,Ultrastingers,maglights,etc.

So now that I almost cured BRD(black rifle diseasse) I havee the flashlight bug. I cannot afford a TK-40,:mad: so can you all help me out?

Thanks for the help in advance.

Is there a head for my SF M-96 series?
 
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Burgess

Flashaholic
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
6,545
Location
USA
You've been a CPF member for more than 3 years,

and yet this is only yer' 9th Post ?


Truly a person of few words !


Welcome to CandlePowerForums.

:welcome:


Sounds like you are gonna' be spending some money soon.

:cool:


Good Luck in your search for the perfect flashlight.
 

duboost

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
218
Location
Hawaii
find $20 more, walk into walmart and pick up the stanley HID :naughty:
 
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zoe17

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 22, 2006
Messages
19
find $20
more, walk into walmart and pick up the stanley HID :naughty:[/QUOT

Has to be two cell size.

Yes I have been a member for years, reading and spending more
money. Luckily for my wallet I have not started modding yet. Easier to hit DE/Kodomain/shiningbeam/ etc.
 

dirtech

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Messages
451
Location
Pocatello
If a total newb like me can build a 2d mag mce mod then you can to. Its great to pull out a mag that they don't suspect then wow them with hundreds of lumens. You can do it for around $50 to if you have batteries.
 

hubbytuby

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Joined
Feb 1, 2008
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138
Location
simi
the wf500 is great but will prob break withing a couple of hours. But it bright for the buck:grin2:
 

kyhunter1

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 15, 2008
Messages
1,502
Location
South East KY
Get a lumens factory 630 lumen lamp for the wf500 and you have a decent quality nice high output light for roughly $50.00 altogether and uses 2x18650 cells. My setup like this has worked perfect over the past year. This should knock there socks off with it's sheer brightness. :thumbsup:

the wf500 is great but will prob break withing a couple of hours. But it bright for the buck:grin2:
 

zoe17

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 22, 2006
Messages
19
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12623

The winner for 50-. Say what you will about the build quality, it's eyeball-searingly bright. Unfortunately, your looking at 3 week+ shipping time from DX. Anyone had experience with this store? http://www.bestofferbuy.com/SpiderF...ource=gbase&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=gbase

I have been looking at that one and this one as well http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12060

Thanks for the help. I am still wanting to present the shock and awe. I know you guys can help. Hell I would even up my spending limit. Thing is the guys are getting throwers/spots and comparing the center hot spot in a dark room.


Thanks for the help.
 

joshconsulting

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
640
The one you linked is a flood, with very little focused spot. I've been through all of the '700-900' (400-500 actual) DX lights, and it's hard to find a P7 with a good spot. The one I linked to is relatively 'spotty', but the best DX P7 thrower is http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13336 (take a look at the beamshots). In general, the tighter the spot the bigger and deeper the head, and thus less portability and more weight.

The P7s win in terms of sheer light output, and are certainly the most handy in everday use, but if you really want a thrower, an XR-E or Q5 with a laser focus will do the trick. I would, however, go for the P7 - it's a wall of light, pretty much the greatest OTF lumens outside of a HID or much, much larger spotlight. And you can't beat $35 :)
 

brianch

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
242
Location
Toronto, Canada
Pick up a P7-C light from DX. Any of those should be sufficient. Now if you don't mind a bigger flashlight just under your budget, plus you dont mind taking a light apart to rebuild it, and you don't mind waiting until Jan. Think about this cool light http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.30683

edit: ah yess. ^ that trustfire p7 has very good throw. I had one in the past, can't manage to find it.. The head is rather large for a single 18650 light.
 
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zoe17

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Joined
Oct 22, 2006
Messages
19
Other guys from work have found Deal extreme as well it would seem. A guy comes in with his "going to beat all" 800 lumen beast. It was a DE Ultrafire.

It was beaten by a 230 lumen rated spot. The guys are shining the lights on a concrete ceiling 10 feet or so up, and seeing which spot walks over/ is brighter.

Now I took a old cheap plastic 2-D cell light, installed a 50W MR-16 lamp, you could not tell it was not the cheap one that came with it. I did not have the items needed to drive the lamp at 12-18V, so I just taped it to a Dewalt 18V drill battery. Lots of laughs,:crackup: but it was very bright.I had a dozen 123's but did not have time to find a connection means.

Now, all you flashaholics have to help. I can follow directions, I can solder, or I can type a CC number. I need a eye blistering spot, the more white/blue tint the better as it will seem brighter right?

Any ideas? Links?

Thanks, this is getting to be fun. I have several mag lights to use as bodies and several old 2-123 cell lights from DE.
 

joshconsulting

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Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
640

zoe17

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Joined
Oct 22, 2006
Messages
19
The M1 looks cool but could not find the price.

I have been reading this thread http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?p=2402510

looks like a nice light as well.

The custom light you linked to looks great as well. Thanks for the stuff to read. Buying a couplee e2d's or M96 series Surefires for mt AR's was my most exspenisive light purchase.

That may change, but if I could do this for the cheap it would be nice. I will not be mounting this light on a weapon. I have gone the way of NV on my weapons to see in the dark.
 

B12

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Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
31
Location
Finland
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12623

The winner for 50-. Say what you will about the build quality, it's eyeball-searingly bright. Unfortunately, your looking at 3 week+ shipping time from DX.

I will say the build quality is excellent:grin2:. Really.

As for the brightness, mine draws 4A+ from a fresh battery and does not even drop below 3A when the battery drains so I would be very very surprised if it only puts out 400-500lm. This is direct drive so driver efficiency does not count. 4A from a c-bin must be something like ~1000 emitter lumens.
 
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joshconsulting

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Joined
Jul 21, 2009
Messages
640
It's rated at 700 OTF lummens by the manufacture, 900 is the "old" estimate; given spiderfire's tendancy to overstate lummens, I would guess it's less then 600.

Again, what about http://www.bestofferbuy.com/SpiderF...urce=gbase&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=gbase? I'm not sure if it would have the usual DX delay, but I haven't seen much about the site. I'm thinking if ordering it to try it out, as they sell the Trustfire batteries as well.
 

B12

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Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
31
Location
Finland
It's rated at 700 OTF lummens by the manufacture, 900 is the "old" estimate; given spiderfire's tendancy to overstate lummens, I would guess it's less then 600.

Yes the SSC P7-c is rated 700-800lumes @ 2.8 amps. Mine draws over 4 amps with fresh battery so it is considerably brighter.

I want to believe it is 700-800 lumens for some time before the battery voltage drops below 4V. After that it drops to maybe 600 lumens with about 3,3 amps.

Has anybody actually measured the lumens of those overdriven P7s? All I have heard is people whining how disappointed they are because their light only push 1 to 2 amps or so with bad drivers. And the pros never comment those cheap lights other than you never know what you will get and to stay away of those and how crap they are even if they have never actually seen one in flesh.

Edit: Just noticed you talked about spiderfire, mine is MTE.
 

brianch

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Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
242
Location
Toronto, Canada
There are quite a few budget light reviews on CPF. Check them out. I have had three of the same ultrafire p7 lights. Each have different brightness levels. But after taking the whole thing apart and cleaning every little nook and cranny and checking all soldering points they all perform about the same. The lights are definately worth it if you are willing to take it apart and fix it. Quality of course is a different issue. I don't find the quality of the MTE, Spiderfire, Ultrafire, TrustFire, etc lights to be that reliable. Every time I rely on them, they fail. So don't blaim some people for trashing the lights. For every day use they are great, but when you need it to perform in harsh environments, they may fail. :thinking:
 

smokelaw1

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 23, 2006
Messages
1,282
Location
Switzerland
If all you are comparing is relative strength of hotspot (lux @ 10 feet), then an aspheric LED mag will beat all for under 50 bucks, i would think. I bet putting up a WTB might get you what you're looking for.
It seems that that is what you are looking at, with the "walk-over" test.
 
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